Climate catastrophe isn’t looming – it’s already here. The fires raging in the Amazon and the devastation in the Bahamas are only the most recent reminders of this.
What’s at risk is all that we need to survive: clean air and water, food, a healthy environment. Our rights to these resources are also enshrined in international law. Yet, too often, we neglect the potential of this rights framework to hold governments accountable to create and implement sustainable policy, shape the law to uphold our moral vision, and provide local activists with tools to turn those rights into reality.
To achieve climate justice, the architecture of human rights that already exists is a critical but under-utilised asset. In this race against time, we must learn from global women’s movements and leverage human rights to address the climate crisis.
